Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
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Book Overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY - OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - "An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far."--Dwight Garner, The New York Times The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize - National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist - Winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award - Dayton Literary Prize Finalist - PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist - PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist - Kirkus Prize Finalist "As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not." Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Isabel Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize - National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist - Winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award - Dayton Literary Prize Finalist - PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist - PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist - Kirkus Prize Finalist "As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not." Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Isabel Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0593230256
ISBN13:9780593230251
Release Date:August 2020
Publisher:Random House
Length:544 Pages
Weight:1.73 lbs.
Dimensions:1.7" x 6.4" x 9.3"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Transformational Perspective on Societal Power Structures
Published by Randy Ehrler , 3 months ago
In Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson brilliantly distills the invisible yet pervasive forces that shape social hierarchies, much like the water in David Foster Wallace’s famous parable about fish. Wilkerson argues that caste systems, rather than overt racism alone, are at the root of much of the inequality we see today, both in America and around the world. The book has transformed my thinking about how deeply embedded these structures are within society and myself. It reveals how, beyond conscious thought, many of us accept a world where certain groups are deemed lesser, justifying their exploitation and the environmental devastation of marginalized communities. Wilkerson’s powerful narrative forces the reader to confront uncomfortable truths, making it impossible to view our nation's history or our place within it in the same way again. I am left with deep questions and a need for soul-searching.
You'll be a better person for reading it
Published by M. Leonard , 5 months ago
I first saw the movie 'Origin' based on this book and was so moved that I purchased the book immediately after. Isabel is absolutely a master in her own right. I've never read a book so thoroughly and perfectly explained that no doubt remains of the truth. Nothing is left unexamined. You are forever changed by what you read as you realize, so profoundly, that you had absolutely no clue of what others, not in your caste, have lived through. She makes you get it, and you can't forget it.
A must read!
Published by MSC , 2 years ago
We need to understand... andvthis opens up a pandoras box many prefer to keep closed.
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